Internal Communications Lead (Senior Associate)

The communications team shapes One Acre Fund’s global brand and local reputation across Sub-Saharan Africa. One Acre Fund currently serves more than 600,000 smallholder farmers in six core countries, and we aim to serve one million farmers by 2020. Our fifteen-person team champions the idea that hard-working farmers are at the heart of rural development and national prosperity.

As the organization’s first global internal communications lead, you’ll develop a critical function to keep 7,000 diverse employees connected, informed and engaged. In the next five years, we expect our team to grow to 15,000, and investing in our people is one of our top strategic priorities as an organization.

In this role, you will design a comprehensive internal communications strategy to support our team as we grow. It’s a unique opportunity to shape an emerging strand of work and build a great workplace experience for staff.

Proactive Global Communications 

You’ll design and lead several internal communication campaigns each year. This may include building buy-in for our 2030 vision, increasing transparency on pay or promotions, or engaging staff on organizational culture.

• Work with leaders to establish a few shared internal communications priorities in a given year
• Create core messages and materials to support those priorities, with regular editing and ghostwriting
• Audit all existing global internal communications updates and channels and propose improvements
• Develop roll out processes to ensure information consistently reaches staff at all levels, in all countries

Rapid Response in Challenging Situations

You’ll provide hands-on support to senior leaders managing teams through change or crisis. This may mean informing and supporting staff facing a challenging season, program restructuring, or volatile political situation.

• Advise senior leaders on high-stakes strategy and staff messaging, and coach them through execution
• Directly create all communications needed to keep staff informed (emails, talking points, presentations)
• Embed in a country as needed to provide hands-on staff communication support during critical periods
• Build the communication capacity of country teams with trainings, templates and best practices

Staff Engagement and Feedback 

You’ll help senior leaders identify, prioritize, and respond to trends in staff feedback. This means developing a board network of staff contacts across six countries to keep a pulse on the staff experience.

• Speak monthly with People leads and staff at all job levels to understand how key messages are landing
• Regularly advise leadership on any staff concerns or communications follow-up needed in each country
• Create consistent opportunities for senior leaders to engage with staff directly and respond to feedback

Management

This person will be a key member of the Communications Department leadership team. While this role will not start out with direct reports, this person will hold dotted line relationships to staff leading in-country communications in Kenya and Rwanda, and mentor colleagues in the People division. As the global internal communication function is established, this role is likely to add direct reports over time.

CAREER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months, and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

QUALIFICATIONS

We are seeking an exceptional communicator with at least 5-8+ years of experience and a passion for engaging and inspiring teams. An ideal candidate will enjoy both big-picture strategy and detailed writing. Prior internal communications experience is preferred, but not required if the candidate has led significant change efforts or staff engagement initiatives within an organization. Candidates who fit the following criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

• Exceptional ability to quickly develop nuanced messaging and ghostwrite on sensitive staff issues
• Experience advising leaders on strategy and rolling out campaigns in diverse cultural contexts
• Strong emotional intelligence and ability to build trusted relationships with staff of all backgrounds
• Strong detail orientation and comfort managing projects with multiple stakeholders and moving pieces
• Internal communications leadership experience at a mature organization in East Africa preferred
• Passion for staff engagement, change management, or organizational culture a plus
• Comfort with regular travel (up to 25%) and occasionally “embedding” in countries for 2-3 weeks
• English fluency required; proficiency in Swahili or French strongly preferred

PREFERRED START DATE

Flexible

COMPENSATION

Commensurate with experience.

BENEFITS

Health insurance, housing, annual flights and other quality of life benefits.

LOCATION

Nairobi or Kigali; expected travel 25% of the time to our rural headquarters, with the possibility of embedding for short periods (2-3 weeks) in countries as needed

SPONSOR INTERNATIONAL CANDIDATES 

No; must have existing rights to work in Kenya or Rwanda. East Africans are strongly encouraged to apply.

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here.